Talk about me getting on shaky ground..... Bugles and trumpets, but I'll
try. The bugle that we are so familiar with today was here by the time of
the American Civil War, and had pretty much replaced the drum in Cavalry
units as the signaling device. (Would you like to try to roll a double
paraddiddle on a snare drum while on horseback?!?!) The bugle today is
about 4 to 6 feet of coiled brass with a mouthpiece on one end and a bell on
the other. In the hands of the average bugler, it can produce 5 notes. But
the lowest one sounds 'blatty' so it really has only 4. "Cceg" The
interesting (maybe even amazing) thing to me is that just about every bugle
call in the world is made up of only those 4 notes....... Taps, Reveille,
Church Call, Sousa's bugle obbligatto to Semper Fideles, etc. I think --
but am not sure -- that that type of bugle appeared maybe in the
Revolutionary War with British Cavalry.
The (military) Trumpet of the 1400's through mid 1700's was about 8 feet of
coiled tubing. It could produce a pretty good sounding 8 notes -- twice as
many as the bugle. In its upper register, it had a pretty good scale of
"cdefg", and lower it had a good C and E and G. That means it could make a
good stab at playing such things as WHEN THE KING ENJOYS HIS OWN AGAIN, A
MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUR GOD, OLD Hundredth PSALM TUNE, etc. Washington
Irving has some hilarious accounts of Anthony van Corlear, trumpeter in New
Amsterdam who accompanied Gov. Peter Stuyvesant on his rounds. It seems he
played not only warnings to arose the militia, but also social music to
entertain, particularly the ladies. (I knew I should have learned the
trumpet rather than the tuba:))
There are, no doubt, trumpets left by the British Cavalry, and I expect the
Hessians also made extensive use of it. But the large size of the trumpet
mouthpiece (relative to trumpet mouthpieces today, and bugle mouthpieces all
along) at Jamestowne seems to confirm that at some point there was a true
'trumpet' of about 8 coiled or folded feet on the other end. Hopefully,
research may even give some leads to who the musician was, and maybe even
what he played.
Incidentally, the bugle itself became such an importanty part of the
military, it was used in the 1800's as the sign of the Infantry. Even after
the Artillery had gone to crossed cannon and the Cavalry to crossed sabers,
the Infantry stuck with the single bugle. The Italian mountain troops still
use the symbol on their hats. And I think several European countries use
that bugle as a sign of the post office.
More than you ever wanted to know about bugles and trumpets :))
Randy Cabell
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brent Tarter" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, December 30, 2005 2:11 PM
Subject: Re: English National Songs ca. 1607
> Randy's question set me to thinking along another line: My limited
> knowledge of military practices of the time does include that drums were
> used as signalling devices for a great many purposes. Some of those
> purposes were later served by bugles. Did the early English soldiers in
> Virginia perhaps have one or more buglers with them? And would there
> have been any difference in the instrument's mouthpiece?
>
> Brent Tarter
> The Library of Virginia
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Visit the Library of Virginia's web site at http://www.lva.lib.va.us
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Weiss
> Sent: Friday, December 30, 2005 10:13 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: English National Songs ca. 1607
>
> My immediate thoughts for further investigation go to the English Folk
> Song and Dance Society:
> http://www.efdss.org/
> There are titles from 16th and 17th centuries at
> http://www.contemplator.com/england/
>
> John Weiss
> Independent researcher, London
>
> Randy Cabell wrote:
>
>>With the discovery of a trumpet mouthpiece in a trashpit at Jamestowne,
> it goes without saying that I am now off on a brand new 'project' :)))
> Since trumpeters of that time were generally members of guilds and
> secrecy demanded that they never write anything down, it is difficult to
> find what this trumpeter might have played. But I have already (re-)
> constructed a dozen or so might-have-beens.
>>
>>The biggest problem that I have is the lack of ANY English national
>>song that may have been brought to Jamestowne. As an example, the
>>Dutch came up with "William of Nassau - The Prince of Orange" about 50
>>years earlier, and short of "The Marseillaise", it is about the most
>>inspring tune I have ever heard. (If you want an MP3 file of 3
>>trumpets and kettledrums playing it, drop me a note off-list.)
>>
>>The National Songs we traditionally associate with England did not come
> on for another 100-150 years. "God Save the King", "Rule Britannia",
> "Roast Boeff of Old England", "Marlbrouck", etc. The lusty bowmen of
> Olde England and their nautical counterparts with Sir Francis Drake MUST
> have sung and/or marched to something stirring.
>>
>>At the moment all I can find are "Penny Merriments" i.e. pop songs of
> the day some of which though with interesting titles like "Susanna
> faire, sometimes assaulted was", are not generally what we associate
> with storming the battlements of fortified townes.
>>
>>Any ideas?
>>
>>Randy Cabell
>>
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